Omnis, open baffles, dipoles, what is your favorite (still made)?

These look awesome with many price points.

Home, Open Baffle Speakers - PureAudioProject

I own a pair of Spatial's and that would be my choice it just comes down to whether you want the models with or without the powered bass driver. You also have Pure Audio Project which is quite popular just require some minor assembly. Linear Tube Audio in the DC area has Spatial's at their facility that you could probably demo as they are Clayton's primary partner at shows.

Pure Audio Project and Spatial are terrific for the money.

If I had a spare 5 grand to spend, I'd order a pair of Spatial Audio Sapphire M3s right now...

I have owned many types of speakers over the course of time, the typical monkey coffin/box type speaker, planar/panels, and quite a few Omni/Omni-type speakers. For the last ten years, Omni has been my choice, currently living with a pair of Duevel Venus, which I have owned going on three years now.

I personally can live with most any type of speaker really, as they all have their pros and cons, it just so happens, the Omni to my ears just present music in a more natural way. Note that not every Omni may be good though! I have owned Ohms, Larsen, Shahinianas as far as omni’s go, and they all have been very fun, very enjoyable in their own way. The Larsen being the one I lived with for the longest, the Model 4, for a bit over five years, and the cheapest of the bunch.

At this stage of the game, it would be hard for me to change course away from omnis, or my Duevel Venus, I find them quite wonderful transducers, and play so well in my smaller apartment space.

I do think omnis kind of a get a general bad rap overall, not as many brands or models of course, so the usual hyped up reviews are not prevalent, so they tend to be ignored, or not known at all. Plus, coming from a “normal”, forward firing speaker, an Omni typically will sound quite weird to many, it does take some time and patience to become accustomed to the presentation, and I think most give up before that happens. Also, most assume they are a plonk-down anywhere type of speaker, and they will sound good. Well, maybe they are or can be, a bit less picky about placement, but like anything, time spent dialing them in pays rewards, like any good system can.

Anyway, I blather on, give them a try, spend time with them, you might find them to your liking and really enjoy what they can bring to your musical enjoyment!

joeinid said:

These look awesome with many price points.

Home, Open Baffle Speakers - PureAudioProject

Click to expand...

The PAPs are quite good, I've heard the aforementioned competitors and the PAP always stood out. This model looks interesting for those with space limitations:

If you're willing to consider DIY, I built a set of GR-Research NX-Otica speakers with stereo triple stack servo subs, and they are easily the most satisfying speakers I've owned (previous speakers include Tympani IV, MG3.6, Duntech Sovereign, Revel Studio, Revel Gem, GE Triton 2+, Totem Mani-2, ...). These are open baffle speakers with fairly high efficiency (~93db/w) with powered subs. Measures in my room within a couple of db from 18hz to 20Khz+.

GR-Research works with a company that makes very high quality MDF flatpacks that need to be glued and finished. 40-50 hours of labor including building the crossovers. Total cost for the speaker system I built with fairly high quality crossover components (SonicCaps bypassed with Miflex copper caps, copper foil inductor for tweeter) was about $6K.

The pros for open baffle are very open and spacious sound stage. Bass room modes seem to be diminished with nice smooth response almost anywhere in the room.

The cons are that they have to be positioned out into the room or the rear wave will adversely affect the response. General rule of thumb is at least 3ft from the wall behind them, but I found that the sound (and particularly the imaging) got better further out into the room. I have mine positioned with the front of the baffle about 7ft from the wall. They also benefit from not having obstructions between the speakers.

I've been so blown away by these speakers that I've decided to build a set of Danny Ritchie's Line Force speakers (Danny is the owner and chief designer at GR-Research). The Line Force is a large step up in cost, but is considered by many that have heard it as one of the best speakers available at any cost. These speakers aren't shown on GR's website, but if you google "GR Research Line Force", you can find many mentions of them.

joeinid said:

These look awesome with many price points.

Home, Open Baffle Speakers - PureAudioProject

Click to expand...

Pure Audio are the only OBs I have heard and they were quite impressive driven by a Hattor Int or a Lamizator Int. The Trios with the Voxativ Field Coils were awesome. Heard the original Duets and the Quintets also the same day.

Had the MBL 116's for a number of years. Wonderful omni. Only issue is cost.